Heat Transfer Coefficient and Pressure Drop for Forced Convection Boiling and Condensation of HFC134a

Purdue University Purdue e-pubs International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference School of Mechanical Engineering 199 Heat Transfer Coefficient and Pressure Drop for Forced Convection Boiling and Condensation of HFC134a T. Fukushima Hitachi Ltds. M. Kudou Hitachi Ltds. Follow this and additional works at: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iracc Fukushima, T. and Kudou, M., "Heat Transfer Coefficient and Pressure Drop for Forced Convection Boiling and Condensation of HFC134a" (199). International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference. Paper 12. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iracc/12 This document has been made available through Purdue e-pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact epubs@purdue.edu for additional information. Complete proceedings may be acquired in print and on CD-ROM directly from the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories at https://engineering.purdue.edu/ Herrick/Events/orderlit.html

REFRIGERATING OILS FOR ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS Takashi Kaimai Kyodo Oil Technical Research Center Co. Ltd. HFC-134a has been mentioned as a possible replacement for CFC-lZ ~hich is a chlorofluorocarbon that has been identified as depleting atmospheric ozone. The major problem of using HFC-134a is the ~iscibility ~ith conventional lubricants. Some polyglycols are proposed as lubricants for HFC-134a, however which have several defects such as an inadequate miscibility, high hygroscopicity, low electric insulating property, low lubricity and inadequate thermal stability. Therefore,new lubricant for HFC-134a was investigated and the molecule designed ester lubricants have been developed. Also the lubricants for HCFC-1Z3 ~hich can replace CFC-11 are studied, INTRODUCTION The renarkable increase in the production and fields of application of refrigeratin, machines in recent years has been ainly due to the development of the CFC and HCFC refrigerants which have excellent characteristics in terms of safety, stabillty and noncorrosive property. However,attention has been focused on the issue of the depletion of the ozone layer by chemically stabilized CFC, regulations on CFC were implemented in July 1989 and CFC will be phased out in the future. The use of refrigerants such as CFC-11, CFC-lZ, etc., is no~ regulated, which means that we are forced to switch to alternative refrigerants. In the case of the refrigerating co pressor, it is i portant to select a refrigerating oil suitable for the new refrigerant, as well as to reconsider the design and materials to be used in accordance with for the refrigerator change. This paper summarizes the work on the refrigerating oils for alternative refrigerants. ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS The CFC and HCFC refrigerants used in refrigerating equipment are about 45, tons, while the percentage ratios of the CFC and HCFC refrigerants used are CFC-11(6%), CFC-12(48%), HCFC-22(43%) and others(3%) in JAPAN.Among these CFC and HCFC refrigerants, CFC-11 is used for centrifugal type refrigerating machines, CFC-12 for automotive air conditi oners,household refrigerators,cold storage showcases, etc., and HCFC-22 for room air conditioners, food freezers, etc. The phaseout of CFC in equipment using CFC-11 and CFC-12 refrigerants will mean a reduction in refrigerant loss in the equipment production process, a reduction in the fill quantity, and a s~itchover to alternative refrigerants. 19

The alternative refrigerants are shown in Table 1. The HCFC-123 refrigerant ~ay replace the CFC-11 refrigerant, while the HFC-134a refrigerant ay replace the CFC~12 refrigerant. Besides these, proposals have been ade for the two type mi~ed refriserant (HCFC-142b/HCFC-22) and the three type ~ixed refrigerant (HCFC-22/HFC-152a/HCFC-124 or HCFC-22/ HFC-152a/CFC-114). In addition, some of the equipment using the CFC-12 refrigerant will probably switch to the HCFC-22 refrigerant which is not covered by the new regulations. Table Alternative Refrigerants Centrifugal type refrigerating machines Automotive air conditioners Household electric refl"'igerators Refrigerants used now CFC-11, CI'C-12 CFC-12 Alternative refrigerants HCFC 123 HCFC-l4lb HFC-134a HFC-134a Cold storage showcases CFC-12 pqrtially CFC-113, CFC-114 HCI'C- 22 HI'C-134a REFRIGERATING OILS FOR HFC-134a Studies on Basic Materials The required characteristics on refrigerating oils for the HFC-134a used in automototive air conditioners and household refrigerators, vhich are major equipment using the CFC-12. are shown in Table 2. Miscibility of oils with the refrigerant is the basic characteristic from the aspect of oil returning into the compressor. Phase separation of the oil from the refrigerant can cause poor lubrication of the co~pressor which results in increased wear and decreased compressor life. Previous studies were therefore conducted on the miscibility of the HFC-134a and the various refri~erating oils available on the market, The results are shown in Table 3. The only refrigerating oil that was miscible vith the HFC-134a was polyalkylene glycol(pag), which is a synthetic oil as shown in Table 3 and further studies on PAG have been promoted. However, the results of studies on PAG have demonstrated that the miscibility with the HFC-134 refrigerant is inadequate especially in the high temperature, vhile hygroscopicity is high and the antiwear property is inferior compared with the current CFC-12 system. In addition, there are various problematic points such as the fact that electrical insulation is poor. Consequently, basic terials of modified PAG and molecule designed esters have been developed since then. 191

Table 2 Required Characteristics on Refrigeratin~ Oils for Characteristic Viscosity Miscibility with refrigerant Stability Lubricity Hygroscopicity Copper plating HFC-134a Refrigerant Volume resistivity ad CoapatibilitY with organic materials Use Swash plate or recipro. Rotary High temp Low te P HCFC-134a CFC-12 Automive air conditioners 1 est @ loo'c 2 est 8 loo'c >8'C <-2'C Low Same Comparison with CFC-12 refri~erant- ineral oil syste1. Electrical insulating property. Household refrigerators 15-32 est ~ 4'C 32-56 est ~ 4'C >8'C <-4'C Saae Low ) 1" Table 3 Miscibility of HFC-134a with Various Refrigerating Oils Phase separation te perature ('C) (oil/hfc-134a - wt$) Type of oil l/9 218 4/6 8/2 Paraffinic oil I.odseible Immiscible Immiscible Immiscible Naphthenic oil Aromatic oil II II Alkyl benzene II Ester II -9 PAG High temp. 75 ti7 71 ) so Low temp. <-5 <*5 <-5 <-5 Note; Commercialy available oils (VG32) were tested. 192

Refrigerating Oil for Automotive Air Conditioners The characteristics of refrigerating oils for auto otive air conditioners are shown in Table 4. In the case of auto otive air conditioners, the phase separation te perature should be high when the compressor is started during the hot summer season. In other words, the refrigerant with a large specific gravity becomes the lower layer when the refrigerant and oil are separated at high temperature. It beco es a lubrication by only the refrigerant of lower layer at the start of co pressor and there might be the danger of a seizure. Experimental oil C with modified PAG as the basic aterial and e~peri ental oil D with ester as the basic aterial have excellent characteristics in this respect. In addition, experimetal oil D has a low hygroscopicity, while the lubricity is also good. Moreover, it also has excellent characteristics in ter s of stability when the CFC-12 refriserant is conta inated. Table 4 Characteristics of the Refrigerating Oils tor Auto otive ~~Material Air Conditioners (Swash plate) n A B c Require< type Modifie< Ite111 PAG-1 PAG-2 PAG Ester value Viscosity I 4t: 56.1 49.3 51.3 78.8 - (est) I loot: 1.8 1.2 9.8 1.3 1 Viscosity index 187 21 179 114 - Phase separation temperature, t: High 46 69 8 >8 >8 (oil/hfc-!34a;z/8) Low <-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 <-2 Saturated moisture 26' 21, 24. 1,5 content (25t:),,. - Solubility with In- In- In- Soluble mineral oil soluble soluble soluble ~- Sealed tube test (Colour, ASH!) days L.5 L.5 L.5 L.5 HFC-134a 1 days L.5 L.5 L.5 L.5 175t:,l'e,Cu,Al 2 days L.5 L.5 L.5 L.5 Sealed tube test (Colour, ASTM) 3 days } 8 > B ) 8 L 1. CFC-12 6 days L 1. 17St:,Fe,Cu Al 1 days L 1. l'alex e::c:tre11e pressure 6t;, (Fe/l'e) 86 88 95 12 falex gea.r test Lbf (pin/block) 15/1 1/1 6/1 3/1 3Lbf, lhr mg Matenal Fe p1n SAE 3135 Fe block AISI 1137 Note PAG-1 RO(PO)n PAG-2 RO(PO)n Modified PAG RCO(PO)n CR 193

This paper has so for given an ou~line on refri~erating oils for HFC-134a. At present, it can be considered that the ester type is superior overall. The properties of the various oils in co parison ith mineral oil are shown in Table 7. Table 7 Properties of the Various Refrigerating Oils for HFC-134a ~ p HFC-134a Stability CFC-12 O~idation Mutual High tempera~ure solubility Low temperature Lubricity Hy~roscopicity Copper plating Iron I Iron Iron I Non-ferrous Electrical insulating_y_r~erty. E:tcellent : Moderate p A G. Good :Bad Modified p A G Ester oil Mineral (CFC-12) REFRIGERATING OIL FOR HCFC-123 The CFC-11 has mainly been used by the centrifugal type refrigerating machines. It has therefore become necessary to study the possibilities of alternative refrigerants due to the new regulations on the CFC-11. The HCFC-123 is a prom~slng candidate as alternative refrigerant, so studies have been conducted on refrigeratin~ oils for the HCFC-123. Paraffinic mineral oils have mainly been used for the CFC-11 in JAPAN, so an evaluation was made using the present paraffinic mineral oils and results are shown in Table 8. Since the number of Cl in the molecule is in the case of the HCFC-123 (3 in the case of the CFC-11), it offers advantages in term of stability. Furthermore, as a result by the sealed tube test, the stability when using the HCFC-123 refrigerant was drastically improved in comparison with the case of the CFC-11. In addition, there vas no problem associated with the solubility of the refrigerant and oil. From the facts stated above, the present paraffinic mineral oils can be used as the refrigerating oils for the HCFC-123. 194

Table 8 Evaluation of Refrigerating Oils for HCFC-123 ~ Paraffinic ineral oil Pro ert1es VG 56 VG 68 Viscosity 4'C 57.5 65.6 est!oo'c 8. 8.69 Viscosity index 16 15 Pour ~oint, 'C -3. -3. Phase separation te11p. ('C) Oil : HCFC-123 1 : 9-4 -39 2 : 8-39 -38 4 : 6-38 -38 6 : 4-38 -37 8 : 2-37 -37 Sealed tube test HCFC-12 CFC-11 HCFC-lZ CI'C-11 Colour days L 1. L 1. L 1. L 1. (ASTH) 3 days L 3. >8 L 3. >8 175'C 6 days L 5. L 5. 1 days >8 >8 Cat.; Fe, Cu, A1 CONCLUSION As refrigerating oils for HI'C-!34a refrigerant PAG, edified PAG and the 11olecule designed ester were studied and it was ascertained that ester had excellent chracteristics,!ro11 the view point of miscibility with refri~erent, hygroscopicity, electric insulating property, lubricity and thermal stability. The performace tests by actual co11pressor have been carried on by compressor anufacturers. Paraffinic mineral oils can be used as the refrigerating oils for HCFC-123 refrigerant, which is a possible repl~ce ent for CrC-11. 195